This past weekend, the crew team followed up its strong performance at the Navy Day Regatta with another successful showing at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia.
Despite battling Division I programs, including some of the highest ranked in the country, the men placed 11th out of 40 boats in Fours w/Cox and seventh in Men’s Championship w/out Cox. The women placed 10th in Women’s Frosh w/ Cox.
“Since it is the biggest race of the fall, people were both excited and a bit nervous,” men’s captain and coxswain sophomore Ryan Comisky said. “There are so many D1 crews and so many Ivy League crews, it’s always exciting going up against them punching above our weight class.”
“Overall, knowing we were racing against so many D1 crews, I think we did really well,” Comisky continued.
Multiple members of the team emphasized the hard work that went into their performance.
“I think our guys rowed as hard as they could and did a really good job,” Comisky said. “We have great coaching and worked hard with them for both individual rowers and for boats.”
“The Schuylkill is an important regatta and we spend a lot of time looking forward to it,” sophomore Anne Wang said. “Leading up we made sure that we were working together as a team to prepare to face the challenging D1 schools, but also prepare our novice rowers for their first races.”
The 2.5-mile course along the Schuylkill River is renowned as one of the most demanding in the United States. With its winding turns and varying water conditions, this course presents a true test of skill and endurance for rowers. There are also up to 30,000 spectators who gather annually to cheer on the competing boats.
“For me, the most challenging part of a race is the last one thousand meters,” Wang said. “Your body is tired, your mind is tired and you’ve already gone three thousand meters. The hardest part is blocking out all the pain and negative thoughts and pushing through to the finish line. For the team as a whole, I think it’s the same thing of just pushing to the end for yourself and your boat.”
The Leopards now turn their attention to their final regatta of the fall, the Frostbite Regatta in two weeks. There, they will get their first taste of spring racing, where instead of a race with boats going off in 15-second increments, it will be five or six boats lined up racing head to head.
“Winter is our time to get strong,” Wang said. “We have a ‘boot camp’ week where we have really intensive practices that set the standard for what we want to achieve. Throughout the rest of the winter, we focus on a lot of [the rowing machine] and lifting to build a strong foundation going into the spring. Spring is a main focus for the team so winter season is about working hard in the gym and team bonding.”
Correction 11/3/2023: A previous version of this article misstated the class year of Ryan Comisky. Comisky is a sophomore.
